


Waking

by oyogihodai (alder_knight)



Category: Free!
Genre: Anxiety, Comfort, Dreams and Nightmares, For the Future Festival (Free!), I'm going to leave this up but it's pretty terrible, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-11
Updated: 2015-08-11
Packaged: 2018-04-14 06:12:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4553823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alder_knight/pseuds/oyogihodai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You were hurt and it… seemed very real. I just… wanted to hear your voice, to know you were okay."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Waking

**Author's Note:**

> For the Future Festival: Day 1 - Dreams
> 
> Set after Eternal Summer, while Haruka is training in Tokyo and Rin in Australia.

_"Take your marks."_

_Rin sank into his stance on the starting block. The crowd around the arena shimmered and screamed. He could hear his name chanted, echoing cavernously. A distant spotlight snapped on, casting its glow on him as the remaining lights in the hall shut down and his opponents faded into the shadows. This race was his._

_The gun sounded and he launched himself through the air and into the water, propelled forward at superhuman speed, the other Olympians eclipsed far behind him. He hit the turn, spun, pushed off, and rocketed towards his goal, arms reaching forward, the specter of the gold dangling closer and closer to his reach -_

 

…and then Rin's phone rang, and he bolted upright, heart racing, shocked out of his Olympic fantasies by the grinding aggression of the Skrillex ringtone he'd neglected to turn off before bed.

He exhaled a stream of curses while groping around for the offending device, which he glared at very close to his face before swiping his thumb across the screen to answer.

"Haru," he grumbled. "It's fucking… three in the morning or something. What the fuck?"

"Rin," came Haruka's voice, clear and serious. Rin immediately felt more awake.

"What?" asked Rin. "What is it?"

There was a silence on the other end of the line. Finally Haru replied, "I'm sorry for waking you. You can go back to sleep now."

Rin's momentary alertness became irritation. "Wait, seriously? No, no. You woke me out of a dead sleep at 3 a.m. and you aren't even going to give me a reason for it? No, come on."

He flopped back down, phone against his ear, and sprawled his other arm across his pillow, waiting for Haru's response. It came after a pause, but he couldn't quite make it out.

"Huh?"

Haru sighed into the receiver. "Never mind," he said.

"No, I couldn't hear you. Say it again."

"…I said, I had a nightmare."

Rin blinked up into the darkness. "Nightmare?" He got no response. "You called me because you had a bad dream?"

"I called because it was about you."

Rin rolled over and propped himself up on his elbows, grinning. "You were dreaming about me?"

"It was awful."

Rin snorted. "Well, thanks for the call, pal." He got ready to hang up, when Haru spoke again.

"You were hurt and it… seemed very real. I just… wanted to hear your voice, to know you were okay."

Rin paused, considering. "Are _you_ okay? It must have been a pretty bad dream, if it drove you to actually use your phone."

"Yeah," said Haru. "I'm okay now."

"What happened?"

Haru huffed. "It's stupid…"

"No, it's not stupid if it was bad enough for you to make an international call in the middle of the night to check on me. What happened? I'm not going to laugh, I swear."

"We were... in Sydney. In a car."

"Yeah?"

Haru hesitated, and then continued. "I can't drive, couldn't even read the signs, but you wanted me to drive us anyway. So I did. Or, tried. Everyone was honking at us.... I couldn't steer, kept going faster... You just kept saying everything was fine. Then I... crashed. It was a bridge, like the one in Iwatobi we used to run across. You went through the windshield, into the water. Blood and glass everywhere... you were drowning, I was trapped in my seatbelt…" Haru took a breath. "You were calling out for me, and then you stopped." 

"Haru…" Rin was at a loss.

"It was my fault. I know it was a dream, but… the part with you getting hurt still felt real."

"Haru," Rin said again.

"I wanted to make sure."

Rin scrubbed his free hand across his face. "Haru, listen to me," he said.

Haru said nothing, apparently listening.

"It's okay," said Rin. "That you woke me up. And also that your brain tried to kill me. It's okay." Haru made a noise of protest, but Rin continued. "I think I would have done the same thing, if I had that dream about you."

Haruka groaned.

"Shut up, you ass, I'm validating your feelings. That sounds scary as hell. I'm sorry you had such a shitty dream. I'm alright, though. Just tired."

Haru paused for a minute before replying. "Good," he said, and then, "I'm glad."

Rin felt color rise in his cheeks, but didn't think much of it. "Are you going to be able to go back to sleep?" he asked.

"Bath first," Haru replied, and Rin chuckled.

"Yeah, I guess if anything would help, it would be a bath. Okay, I'm gonna pass back out. Goodnight, Haru."

"Goodnight. Thank you... Rin."

Rin smiled into his phone. "You're welcome," he replied.

Haru ended the call. Rin curled up on his side and closed his eyes. This time he dreamed of running joyfully towards a distant seashore, waves gradually rising up the beach. He awoke still smiling in the morning.

**Author's Note:**

> Poor bb Haru is having anxiety dreams about jumping into the world of professional swimming. :( 
> 
> GOOD THING HE'S GOT SUCH A GOOD FRIEND (*cough*) CHEERING HIM ON. ♡
> 
>  
> 
> ~~I may have done some dream interpretation research for this fic~~
> 
>  
> 
> Many thanks to @redcirce and @extraordinary, who helped me a lot in editing for this festival!


End file.
